Shattered Restraint Read online

  Danny had no idea what Craig’s role in all of this was, but the scientist had helped develop the new Moon virus. He’d also stood by while Raven was tortured, and there had likely been others.

  “Lie back down,” Craig said, gesturing to the table, which now had new restraints attached. It was also wet, which Danny assumed was to make it look like Craig had washed Danny while he was restrained.

  Danny settled back onto the table and fought the urge to struggle as he was strapped down.

  “Are you ready?” Craig asked.

  Danny let out a humorless bark of laughter. “Does it matter?”

  “No,” Craig said with a sympathetic smile. “I’ll get Roger. Remember, you have to pretend you’re getting weaker.”

  “Got it, play helpless,” Danny said. “Let’s get this over with.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Roger was losing patience. How long could it take to clean a half-dead vampire? If he didn’t need Craig so much, he’d be tempted to kill him. Scratch that—if he didn’t need Craig so much, he’d give in to the temptation to kill him. He was considering the many ways he could torture Craig when the idiot finally walked into the room.

  “What the hell took you so long?” he snapped at the nervous fool.

  “It’s not easy washing someone who’s strapped to a table,” Craig said with what almost sounded like a condescending tone.

  Roger frowned. “Do you have a problem with my request?” he asked in a dangerously calm voice.

  Craig took two steps back. “No!” he said quickly. “I’m just tired and annoyed with Danny for being unable to take care of himself. If he’d just die, we could order him to clean himself.”

  Roger studied Craig closely. His need for Craig was the only reason he hadn’t forced the scientist to inject himself with the Moon virus. Craig’s resistance to becoming a vampire meant he might not take to the life well. Roger suspected he’d need to have Craig restrained during the first several weeks after the change to prevent him from harming himself. Lately, it seemed the idiot had developed a death wish. That put Roger in the distasteful position of having to pretend to be Craig’s friend.

  “I’m worried about you,” Roger said as he glided toward Craig. The man held his place, but looked like he wanted to run.

  “I-I’m fine,” Craig stammered.

  “You’re not getting nymph blood anymore, and I can’t stand the thought of you suffering through the death that comes from withdrawal,” he said as he put a hand on Craig’s shoulder, enjoying the way Craig flinched.

  “I’m still doing fine,” Craig insisted. “It can take months for some people to suffer any withdrawal symptoms.”

  “Why not just make the change?” Roger asked. “See how good it’s been for me? I’m stronger than ever, and it could be the same for you. You certainly won’t have to worry about one of the vampires hurting you nearly as much as you do now. It will also solve that weight problem you’ve dealt with your entire life.” The inability to consume anything other than blood or water solved the problem of obesity. From what Roger had heard, the blood whores could eat human food, even though they didn’t really need it. That was not possible for those infected with the new virus. They couldn’t digest solid foods.

  “I’ll inject myself with the virus when I’m out of time,” Craig said in a small voice.

  Despite his agreement, Roger suspected the fool was lying.

  “I care far too much to allow you to sacrifice your life, my friend,” Roger said, impressed that he didn’t choke on the words.

  “You need me at my best now,” Craig argued. “The change could incapacitate me for several days or more.”

  Roger hated that Craig was right. He needed Craig at his best while they dealt with Danny’s death and training. He also had hopes to capture one of those creatures who could change into animals. His curiosity about what would happen if he changed one into a vampire had become an obsession since he’d first seen them. They would be a great addition to his army if he could control them.

  “We’ll wait a little longer,” Roger said with a nod.

  Craig let out a sigh, clearly relieved. He tried to step back, but Roger tightened his hold on Craig’s shoulder. “I won’t let you die,” Roger said softly. “Your lies aren’t fooling me for a minute. I know you’re hoping to find a way out of accepting the inevitable. Understand that this is only a temporary reprieve. You will become a vampire.”

  Craig nodded nervously, looking down at his shoes.

  Roger released his arm and headed toward the lab with two of his guards. Both had the ruthlessness he needed from his followers. Jeff had been with him since the beginning. While he was rough around the edges, and not the type of man Roger would generally spend time with, he would do anything for the cause. Abram was a newer member of his inner-circle, and Roger wasn’t convinced of the young vampire’s loyalties yet. The vampire seemed oddly fascinated with Claire, but Roger could understand his fascination. As long as the vampire didn’t act on any dangerous impulses, Roger would let him live.

  “What are you planning to do with the guy from the born vampire settlement?” Abram asked.

  Roger stopped and glared at him. That was the other problem with this one. He still thought he had the right to ask questions, and Roger did not like being questioned. “What is your name again?” he asked. Roger found that it helped put people in their place by making them believe they weren’t important enough to remember their names.

  “Abram,” he said without an ounce of fear in his emotionless grey eyes. That was something Roger would have to work on later. It was possible the boy just wasn’t smart enough to fear him, but Roger got the impression it was more than that.

  “Well, Abram, you will see what I have planned soon enough,” he ground out. “I am trying to be patient with you because you are new to my guard detail, but you need to understand that your new position does not mean you have the right to question me about my plans. Am I making myself clear?”

  Abram looked like he wanted to argue, and Roger enjoyed the struggle on his face. If he wasn’t mistaken, Jeff conveyed some silent message to the younger vampire when their eyes locked.

  “Sorry,” Abram mumbled. “I was just curious because I thought we might need to do something.”

  “If you need to do anything, I will tell you,” Roger said, and then pushed open the door to the lab Danny was being kept in.

  Danny was lying on the table, his eyes open, staring at the ceiling.

  “How are you feeling, Danny?” Roger asked with a genial smile.

  “Fuck you,” Danny said in a weak, slurred voice.

  “No need to be rude.” Roger chuckled. “I take it you aren’t feeling quite so cocky today? No snippy lines for me?”

  There was no response, so Roger moved closer to make sure Danny was still awake. By this point, he should be weak from the change and lack of blood. Now came the difficult part, trying to make sure he got just enough blood so he would become undead and biddable. He needed more than just a killer; he needed a vampire who still looked like he could think for himself to fool the vampire council. That would help him convince the council that not only should they side with him against the blood whores, but that even his undead vampires were no threat to anyone.

  First, he needed to make sure the blood whores didn’t attack to free Danny. They didn’t have the resources to defend themselves against the blood whores. While the council had given them many things, weapons weren’t one of them.

  “I’m going to get you some blood, and then I need you to write a letter,” Roger said.

  “I don’t want any blood, and I’m not going to do anything for you,” Danny said, sounding more alert than Roger suspected he should. In some ways, that alertness was good because it meant Danny would suffer more.

  “First, I don’t need your consent to give you blood,” Roger said with a smirk. “I own you. You are my property. Second, you should seriously reconsider writing the lett
er. If your friends decide to attack to free you, the vampire council will not be happy. Do you really want them to come after your friends? Some of them will inevitably be killed if that happens, and it will still be too late to save you.”

  Danny hesitated before speaking. “They won’t risk upsetting the council by coming after me.”

  “The wood nymph will pressure the head blood whore to try to rescue you,” Roger said.

  It was obvious Danny wanted to argue, but he seemed to recognize the truth in Roger’s words. “What do you want me to do?” Danny asked.

  “Nothing too complicated,” Roger assured him. “You’ll write a letter telling the blood whores you’ve decided to move here. You’ll tell them that some old friends helped you when your jeep blew a tire, and you decided you’d rather live with them than see Layla with her vampire lover. Since everyone’s known about your obsession with her for years, that shouldn’t be hard for the wood nymph to believe.”

  Danny looked away, tempting Roger to have someone hold his head in place so he had to look at Roger. This defiant attitude would make having Danny under his control more satisfying. For now, he’d just have to enjoy forcing Danny to do things he didn’t want to.

  “Get me a quarter bag of blood,” Roger said to Abram.

  Abram nodded and went to the refrigerator in the corner to get the blood.

  The easiest way to get Danny to take the blood was with an IV, but that wouldn’t be nearly as satisfying as what he had planned. “Call Craig in here,” he told Jeff.

  Once Craig was in the room, Roger watched Danny carefully as he gave orders. “Craig, give him a mild sedative—nothing that will put him out. I simply want him weakened and relaxed for a short time.” While the restraints would hold Danny down, Roger didn’t want to risk getting any blood on his clothing when Danny thrashed around, which Roger had no doubt he would do.

  Craig hesitated again, pissing Roger off. Luckily, Craig moved his ass and prepared the sedative quickly.

  “Gonna be hard for me to write a letter if you drug me,” Danny said, trying for a tough attitude, but still sounding weak.

  “We can wait a couple of hours for the letter,” Roger said with a pleasant smile as Craig injected Danny with the sedative.

  “Do you need me for anything else?” Craig asked, looking like he wanted nothing more than to get out of the lab.

  “How long for the sedative to take effect?” Roger asked.

  “Less than a minute,” Craig said as he tossed the needle in the trash.

  “Go,” Roger said and waited until Craig was out of the room to continue. By that point, Danny was feeling the effects of the sedative. “Hold his head in place,” Roger ordered Abram. “You pinch his nose,” he told Jeff.

  Grinning at Danny, Roger moved forward with the partial bag of blood in his hand. When he was standing over Danny, he punctured the bag with his own fangs and then slammed it in Danny’s mouth, squeezing so the blood flowed into his mouth. Danny had no choice but to swallow. Roger laughed at the distressed look on Danny’s face. This was the kind of stuff he lived for.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Danny had been gone three days, and Connor was beginning to wonder how much longer he could keep Layla from heading off on her own to rescue him. Connor understood how hard all of this was for Layla. He’d considered sending someone other than Simon to Fangri La, but Simon was a good choice after what he’d suffered at Roger’s hands. With Layla’s anger over Danny’s abduction, he figured she’d be incapable of the diplomacy they needed. Unfortunately, with Simon still in Fangri La, Layla was even more volatile. He was either going to have to bring Simon back or let Zane take Layla to the shifter clan for her own safety. Zane had offered twice, and Connor was tempted, but he worried that Zane’s father would refuse to let Layla leave there. That would result in them being at war with another group in their area, because Simon would not let the shifters keep him from Layla.

  The message that had just arrived complicated matters even more. It went against every protocol they had, but the first person Connor went to after scanning the note from Danny was Raven. While Raven might look younger than Danny, she was around seventy-five years older, and Connor understood how hard it was for her to sit around waiting to hear if they could rescue Danny. Wood nymphs, like vampires, didn’t age much past adulthood. They all seemed to stop aging at around twenty-one. The vampires had more variation, and no one knew why some aged more than others before the process stopped.

  Raven was exactly where he’d expected to find her, in the backyard, sitting by the oak tree. Their wolf friends, Fang and Luna were curled around her, offering the comfort of their touch. The oak was Raven’s spirit tree, and the wolf her spirit animal. Connor had inadvertently accepted the wolf as his spirit animal the day he’d saved Fang, so he understood the comfort Raven got from them.

  His little nymph looked up at him and gave a weak smile. “What are you doing back here so early?” she asked.

  “I got a message from Danny,” Connor said, sitting down beside Raven. Fang immediately placed his head on Connor’s leg, probably because he sensed Connor’s unease.

  Raven visibly tensed, clearly expecting the worst. “Are you sure it’s really from Danny?”

  “It looks like his writing,” Connor said. “He says he left willingly and wants to stay at Roger’s settlement.”

  “That’s a lie!” Raven shouted. “Danny would never turn his back on his friends. Even if he decided to leave, he’d at least say goodbye first.”

  “According to his letter, it’s too painful to watch Layla with Simon,” he said gently. “Something has been bothering him. Do you think this could be the problem? Is there a chance he’d leave over something like this?”

  “No!” Raven said without hesitation. “Danny loved Layla for years, but he’s moved past that.”

  That’s what Connor had believed too, but it would explain Danny’s strange mood lately. “Are you sure?” Connor asked.

  “Yes,” Raven insisted. “He encouraged her to become involved with Simon. Connor, you have to believe me. I’ve known Danny most of his life, and he’s too loyal to willingly leave his friends over something like this. Why would he write a letter saying these things?”

  Connor had been wondering that, as well. He’d had a hard time believing what was in Danny’s message, but he didn’t want to go into some of the reasons Danny might have written the letter. Roger excelled at torture, but that was not an image he wanted to put in Raven’s mind. “He may have been forced to write it,” Connor admitted.

  “He has to know we’d attack Roger’s settlement to save him, and that would bring the vampire council down on our heads,” Raven said.

  “If we attack to free Danny, Roger will definitely bring the matter to the council. So far, we’ve had no luck convincing the council to let us act on this. They say we have no grounds to attack since no one witnessed any abduction, and we have no proof that the people involved in the ambush were from Roger’s settlement. They’re accusing us of making up excuses to destroy Roger and his people. This note from Danny makes it even harder to prove we have grounds to attack. Of course, if we could get Danny out, he could help prove we needed to rescue him. That might be enough to keep the council from coming after us.”

  “Roger will likely kill Danny as soon as the attack starts, and he’ll have witnesses swear we killed him for leaving our settlement in the first place,” Raven said angrily.

  “Probably,” Connor agreed, letting out a frustrated breath.

  “Danny wouldn’t want us to rescue him under these circumstances,” Raven said in a defeated voice.

  “I’m still hoping Cam will hear something from Claire about Danny. Until then, I think we should bring our people back from Fangri La. They aren’t getting anywhere, and I really need Simon to help with Layla. While you’ve been doing your best to keep her temper under control, I’m worried she’s going to do something crazy.”

  “I’ve been wor
ried about that too,” Raven admitted.

  “You know I’d rescue him if I could, right?” Connor asked, feeling helpless.

  “I know,” Raven said, stroking Luna’s head. “Why did you come to me about this? I get the feeling I’m the first to hear about this.”

  “Even knowing this is the way we need to handle this, I needed to hear you tell me I’m doing the right thing,” Connor explained.

  “I had no idea you cared that much about Danny,” Raven said.

  “I don’t,” he said, cupping her cheek in his hand. “It’s you I care that much about.”

  Leaning forward, he kissed Raven tenderly on the mouth. “I love you, little nymph,” he murmured. “Trust me when I tell you that we are not giving up on Danny.”

  “I love you too,” she said with a sad smile.

  “I have to meet with the leadership team now to tell them about this message, but I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he assured her.

  “Connor!” she called out when he started toward the house.

  He turned to her, waiting for her to speak.

  “I don’t blame you for any of this,” she said.

  “You should,” he said. “I never should have sent Danny out without backup.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  Roger decided Danny was too weak to be a problem and had him moved to a cell where he had more freedom—or as much freedom as an eight foot by six foot cell could offer. Still, it was an improvement from being tied to a table. It was hard pretending he was getting weaker when he was actually gaining strength each day. He’d had two more doses of shifter blood to prepare him for his escape. He’d even managed to drink the last bag without wanting to gag. It wasn’t the flavor that got to him. No, he loved the tangy taste of the shifter blood, which differed greatly from human blood. It was more of a psychological thing for him. Being a vampire still didn’t sit well with him.